Heat battle to stay within striking distance

Entering a critical part of the season, the Wellington Heat are coming off of a weekend where they went 2-1 at Liberal, winning the last two games of the series.

Those wins prove to be much needed against a Jayhawk Baseball League opponent. As of the most recent JBL standings, Wellington is in third place with a 7-8 record in league play, good for a half game lead in front of Derby, 7-9. The Heat are five games off the pace set by Hays.

Wellington will host Derby tonight (June 25). The Twins are 2-1 against the Heat this season.

Overall, Wellington is 12-8, the second best win-total amongst the JBL, once again behind the Larks.

Monday’s game against Owasso was postponed due to the Angels having transportation issues. The game will be played on July 16. Wellington is 2-0 against Owasso this season. Last week’s June 19 win, broke a five-game losing streak for the Heat.

The game against Derby kicks off a six-game JBL test for Wellington. After the Derby game, it’s home against El Dorado, Derby again, then a trip out to western Kansas to face the league-leading Larks.

All of Wellington’s eight losses this season have come against JBL teams.

Anything they can do to buck that trend will go a long way in helping the Heat make up ground in the league standings.

There are only two non-JBL games before the National Baseball Congress Regional Tournament in mid-July – both games are at Hibbs-Hooten Field against the Denver Cougars, a team the Heat beat three times, early this year.